1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to plumbing fittings in general and in particular to a manifold assembly for aligning hot and cold water supply lines for back to back basins on opposite sides of a partition.
2. Related Art
In the plumbing trade and in particular in commercial buildings, plumbing fixtures are often situated directly opposite one another on opposite sides of a partition such as a wall in order to reduce the amount of plumbing lines that must be installed. Such arrangements might also be put in place on every floor of a multistory building so that the hot and cold water supply lines as well as drain/waste/vent pipes can run from floor to floor connecting to each fixture at each level with a minimum of plumbing lines.
Given the standard supply line arrangement for a basin wherein the hot water faucet is always on one side and the cold water faucet on the other (generally hot is on the left and cold is on the right), when there are back to back basins the supply lines must be crossed over for one of the basins in order for the supply lines to be properly oriented on each basin. Given that the opposing basins will also be sharing a common drain pipe system, the basins and their respective supply lines will be exactly lined up with one another. Therefore the hot and cold supply lines will protrude from opposite sides of the partition in exactly the same positions, i.e. with hot on the left and cold on the right on each side of the partition.
Any crossover manifold solution must be able to fit within the constricted space inside of the partition. This space is constricted due to the small area between the structural materials such as the studs and wallboard. Furthermore, other plumbing components such as drain/waste/vent (DWV) pipes are also usually in this space, since the drains for the basins are generally situated between the hot and cold supply lines. The remaining space between a two-inch DWV pipe and the wallboard is often less than one inch. Thus it is important that any manifold device for crossing over the supply lines must be made to strict tolerances in order to fit between the wallboard and DWV pipe. A further consideration is that the manifold device should preferably be convenient to install, having a bracket or other hanging component to hold the manifold in place during assembly and usage.
One traditional solution to this crossover requirement has been for a plumber to assemble a series of pipes, from individual components, into a manifold that crosses over the hot and cold water supply lines. While being expedient, this assembly of parts is costly in terms of parts and especially labor and thus is undesirable. Furthermore, such an assembly must have a high degree of accuracy in order for the manifold components to fit within the partition. In addition, every joint that is made has a chance of failing and leaking, and therefore the numerous joints required for producing a hand-made crossover manifold increases the overall chances that the manifold will leak. Finally, such a do-it-yourself solution does not provide a convenient mechanism for holding the manifold in place during installation.
Another solution for plumbers has been a single component crossover manifold such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,004. However, such a manifold is very expensive such that the purchase price approaches the cost of a plumber's time to assemble a self-made manifold from individual components. Furthermore, such devices are extremely heavy, typically having two ends cast from brass, making installation difficult. Among the difficulties associated with installation is the fact that the heavy brass end fittings require application of a considerable amount of heat to solder copper pipes onto them. In use, the heavy brass fittings also absorb a great deal of heat when running hot water through them and thus require running hot water longer to produce acceptably hot water at the basin. In addition, installation of this prior art device requires the hot and cold water supply lines to be on opposite ends of the manifold and is not easily adapted to situations where the hot and cold water supply lines are on the same side of the manifold. Finally, these prior art manifold systems are not readily compatible with newer push- or press-to-fit connectors, further reducing their versatility.
A manifold for back to back basins is more likely to be required in a commercial setting, for example where there are adjacent bathrooms for men and women, than in single-family homes. As such, there is a strong preference among commercial builders and plumbers for plumbing pipes and fittings to be made from copper, as opposed to plastics, because of the perceived quality of copper and because of the compatibility with the rest of the plumbing network and familiarity of plumbers with using the material. Thus, given this strong market preference in the commercial sector for fittings made from copper rather than other materials such as plastics, any manifold solution should preferably be made of copper.
Thus, what is needed is a hot-cold crossover manifold that is pre-made with a minimum of connections, easy to install, inexpensive, and is preferably made of copper.